Casino, Sports Betting, and Lottery – A Comparison of the House Edge

The house edge, which is the commission that a gambling agent such as a
casino, a sportsbook (bookmaker), or a lottery administrator charges, is a
yardstick that measures how a specific gaming game is fair and reasonable.

It is one of the most important factors that every player should consider whenever he / she is engaged in any type of gambling, inasmuch as it indicates how much of the money wagered goes to the gambling agent's pocket and how much is redistributed to the winners. Indeed, a house edge can not be zero since casinos, sportsbooks, and lottery administrators have to make some money in order to cover their expenses, and to make some profit as well. Yet, a high house edge simply means that the players are unnecessarily being ripped-off, and as a result, any gambling game with a high house edge should certainly be avoided by a
knowledgeable gambler.

In this article, we will compare, in the simplest way
possible, the house edges of a roulette, an evens-odd betting, and a cash 3
lottery game as representatives of the three major gambling categories.

The Equation

The easiest way to compute a house edge is to compare the actual winnings that are
paid by the relevant agents to the winnings that would have been paid in a
fair game or bet. A fair game or a fair bet is one in which no commission
is involved; an obvious model is a game between friends. Therefore, in
percentage form, the house edge is obtained by subtracting an actual game winning
from a fair game winning and dividing the result by the fair game winning,
finally multiplying by 100. Thus,

House Edge = [(fair game winning - actual game winning) / fair game winning] *
100

Roulette

Because of its simplicity and popularity, we shall consider the roulette as a
representative casino game. A European roulette wheel has grooves marked by the
numbers 0 to 36; the American wheel (also called Las Vegas wheel) has an
additional groove marked as '00'. So, the European wheel has a total of 37
numbers, while the American wheel has 38. Internet casinos usually make available
the option to select the type of wheel the customer prefers, but the brick and
mortar casinos normally offer only one type. The winning number in a roulette
game is the number corresponding to the groove where a spinning ball lands.

Now, consider a fair game in which 38 friends are playing the roulette at home,
and each one selects a number and places a $ 1 bet on the number (no two or more
players wagering on the same number). When the ball is spun and lands in a
groove, the number marking that groove will be the winning number.
The person who has selected this winning number collects all the money on the
table that making making win $ 37. On the other hand, if the game were connected in
a casino, the winner would be paid only $ 35. The difference between the two
winnings applied in the above equation gives us the house edge of a roulette game
as

(37 - 35) / 37 * 100 = 2/37 * 100 = 5.4%

This means that every time you spend a $ 100 on an offline or online casino roulette, $ 5.40 goes to the casino and the rest is redistributed to the winners. Evidently, there are quite a number of casino games and the house edge varies
from game to game, many of them having a house edge less than that of the
roulette. For obvious reasons, a good gambler always prefers games that have low house
edges, while the casino itself loves those games with high house edges. For example,
the house edge of craps is 1.4% which makes it one of the most preferred casino
games by the players.

Even-odds Sports Betting

Again, because of its simplicity, we will consider an even-odds betting as
representative of this category of gambling. By even-odds we mean that the event
(usually a sports game) has equal chances of going either way. An example is a
tennis match between two competitive players each of which has an equal chance
of winning the match.

A fair bet, in this case, is just a simple bet between two friends who just
pick one of the tennis player as winner. If these two friends wager $ 1 each, the
winner will collect $ 2, that winning $ 1. If instead the bets are placed
through a sportsbook, the winner will collect only $ 1.91, since the odds of an
evens game at most books and online sportsbooks is 1.91. If you are not familiar with the
decimal representation of odds, 1.91 is the same as 10/11 in UK notation and
-110 in US oddsation. Odds of 10/11 mean that you'll win $ 10 when you wager $ 11; and odds of -110 mean that you have to wager $ 110 in order
to win $ 100. Anyways, since the winnings paid by a sportsbook is only $ 0.91, the house
edge of an even-odd betting will there be

(1 - 0.91) / 1 * 100 = 0.09 * 100 = 9%

So, this is how sportsbooks make a living. Since several internet sportsbooks offer odds higher than 1.91 in order to lure
bettors, the house edge could be smaller than 9%, which is one of the things that the bettor should be looking for when searching for a sportsbook. On the other hand, if the bettor is
wagering on parlays the house edge would be significantly higher than 9%; for
big parlays, it could go as high as 40%.

It should be apprehensive by now that the gambler is better off with casino games
than sports betting. It should also be noted that while the house edge could
be a major factor to consider while selecting a gambling game, it is by no means
the only one. For instance, one should consider the fact that casino games are
mostly games of chance, while sports betting also involves a learned decision in
selecting a pick, consequentially leading to a higher probability of winning a bet.

Cash 3

Depending on the state you are in, this lottery game may be known by a
different name such as Pick 3, Play 3, Daily 3, etc. In this game, the player
selects a three-digit number from 000 to 999, and plays the number as a straight
Egypt as a box. A straight play is a prediction that the number will come exactly
as selected while a box is a prediction for the number to come in any order. For
instance, if a player selects the number 672 and plays it straight, he / she will
win if the number drawn is exactly 672. Instead, if the player plays 672 as a
box, he / she will win as long as the drawn number contains a 6, a 7 and a 2, in
any order (276, for example). Obviously, a straight game pays much more
than a box game for the same amount wagered.

Now consider 1000 friends (maybe in a club) selecting a number as a straight,
each for $ 1, so that all the 1000 possible numbers are covered. When the winning
number is drawn, the person who has selected that lucky number will be deemed a
winner and will cash in all the $ 1000 collected, so making him win $ 999. This is
a fair game. In the case of state lotteries, however, the winner will be paid
only $ 500 in most states. Some states may pay a little bit less, others may pay
a little bit more, but $ 500 is more or less the standard. The winner therefore
wins $ 499. The house edge for a Cash 3 game will there be

(999 - 499) / 999 * 100 = 500/999 * 100 = 50%

This house edge applies not only to the Cash 3 game but also to all state
lottery games such as Play 4, Cash 5, Mega, Fantasy 5, Lotto, Power Ball, etc.
So, whenever you are playing the state lottery, remember that you are wagering
only half of your money on the actual lottery; the other half, you are
just giving it away. Where this other half goes is not the gambler's concern,
since his / her main objective is to win some money in order to pay the ever
present bills, or to get out of a miserable life, or to change his / her
20-year-old car. As regards contributing to education and other noble causes,
there are other means of collecting money called taxes and charities.

Unfortunately, many states do not allow casino games, and furthermore,
sports betting is illegal in the United States. The player is therefore left
with no choice but to cross state borders in search of a casino, or more
recently, to engage in online sports betting through the several offshore
internet sportsbooks. Nowadays, there is a plethora of trustworthy online
casinos and sportsbooks operating from Canada, the UK, Antigua, Costa Rica, and
so on.

The Conclusion

As far as the house edge is concerned, it has been shown that casino games
are the best choice for the gambler. On the other end, any state lottery is a
pretty miserable game to play. Neverheless, near the house edge, there is
also the possibility of winning to consider.

Casino games, like lotteries are mostly games of chance; the player just
selects a number or numbers and waits to see what luck brings him / her. There is
absolutely no basis to prefer one number to others. Some people try to analyze
previously drawn numbers in order to see the trend and predict the next numbers.
This strategy may work a few times, but not always. Keep in mind that it is the
players, and not the machines, who remember the previous numbers. In short, the
possibility of winning a roulette or the lottery entirely depends on luck.

While there is little or nothing that a roulette or a lotto player can do to
initially select a possible winning number, the situation could be quite
different in the case of betting. With a lot of information and some assistance from
sports handicappers, it is possible to predict the outcome of a sports event
with more certainty than predicting a Cash 3 number.

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Source by Melkam Dirset